Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

communication

  • Several years ago, I made a nearly nightly trip to Barnes & Noble to read and write. I had discovered Seth Godin’s books Tribes and The Dip and I was starting another: Lynchpin. This was the book I was looking for. In a very literal and figurative way. It was the book. The book I…

  • It seems that, right now, in the United States, in the midst of the Charleston shooting, two years of national conversations about race, and arguing over the confederate flag, we have long ignored the most crucial part of communication. A Should’ve Asked Question   When Jesus tells us to proclaim the gospel to all nations,…

  • confidentiality (countable and uncountable, plural confidentialities) 1. (uncountable) The property of being confidential. 2. (countable) Something told in confidence; a secret. As a priest, I get confidentiality. I respect not only those things told to me in confidence, but the person doing the telling. I understand the issues and the fear and how unconfident a person…

  • Jesus’s parables are dependent on seeing and understanding Proper 12A  |  Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 The Hiding At the beginning of this chapter, we’re told Jesus is so swarmed by people that He jumps into a boat to teach the crowds surrounding Him on the shore. There so many people He has to put a barrier up; to…

  • a Homily for Proper 9 A Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30   Dance, Puppet! “It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another” This is how Jesus speaks to “the current generation,” His generation. Returning from seeing John the Baptist who summoned Him, to question Him. John, asking Jesus of Nazareth: Are you…

  • I have this feeling that we all live with a paradox about Jesus. On the one hand, we feel confident, every one of us, that we could actually answer that question What Would Jesus Do? And, at the same time, when pressed on what Jesus’s most important message is, we shuffle our feet, look at…